Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 47

Dante sat up with a groan, stretching out his stiff back.

The months he had spent at the academy had completely ruined him. If he could go back in time, he never would have slept in that cursed bed. It made the hard floor, which he had always slept on, completely unbearable in comparison.

After removing the stiffness in his back, he gritted his teeth and Blinked back down into the alley. Then, after making his way through the mush of human waste, he walked back out to join the crowded streets.

It seemed that no matter the hour, the streets of Grimspeak were all at full capacity. He couldn’t imagine living in such a place. He had only been in the city for a day, but the lack of space was already making him nauseous and eager to leave.

Thankfully, the ‘square’ had been far easier to find than the inn had been. All he had to do was walk towards the center of Grimspeak until the traffic slowed to a near halt and the yelling became deafening.

In the clustered city of Grimspeak, It was a strange thing to behold, a completely open space. That wasn’t to say that it wasn’t cluttered though. The entire area was jammed packed with carts that merchants and craftsmen sold their wares from.

It was hard to believe some of the prices for food. A small piece of fruit sold for the same price as a dagger at around 15 coppers, it was something that seemed inconceivable to him. He completely ignored those carts, having no intention of wasting his money to such an extent.

On the bright side, the carts that didn’t sell food had ridiculously low prices and were practically devoid of customers. It only took him ten minutes, and 30 coppers, to come away with a new travel bag that would be suitable for his trip. That done, he looked around for provisions.

The grain section, which seemed to be the only food being sold at a reasonable price, wasn’t hard to find. It took up almost half of the entire square.

At two coppers for a loaf of bread, the price was still somewhat extreme. Still, it was far better than any alternative being sold. Dante walked up to one of the carts selling bread, then got in the massive line that extended from it while he listened to those around him muttering about the fight that had started at the academy. Apparently, news had just arrived earlier that morning.

His time in line should have been pleasant. An uninterrupted wait in an area that was almost too loud to hear anyone else. It should have given him time to collect his thoughts and plan his journey with the help of his new map.

But all of that was thrown out the window by his growing paranoia, even if it was likely justified paranoia.

Standing in front of him was a short man that was fingering the handle of his sheathed sword with a combatant glove-covered hand. Which alone wouldn’t have made him alert, but the furtive glances that the combatant gave him did.

It wasn’t just the combination of his short dark hair and sinister expression. It was how alert the man was. It seemed like if he made any move, the combatant would be ready to cut off his escape.

Dante kept his guard up, preparing to Blink away in the event of a sneak attack as the two of them slowly made their way to the front of the line. He considered playing it safe and leaving the line, but he needed to buy bread for his journey, and it seemed like regardless of when he chose to go, he would be leaving with company.

It wasn’t as though he couldn’t find food along the way. He just couldn’t eat random plants due to his lack of knowledge, hunting for food was still a possibility though. The problem lied in the time it would take for him to stalk prey each day.

The mere act of finding his own food would slow his progress down to almost half speed, unless he got lucky and caught an animal or creature unaware as he traveled. Stalking an animal while simultaneously moving at full speed was nearly impossible.

He and the combatant had finally made it to the front of the line, and the combatant bought a single loaf of bread and stood to the side, watching him carefully.

Damn.

Still, if he were already in trouble, he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to stock up. Dante stepped forward, and instead of attempting to talk in the deafening atmosphere, he handed over 60 coppers to the waiting merchant.

The merchant’s eyebrows rose, but he seemed unwilling to pass up the opportunity to make such a large sale and began to count out the thirty loaves, placing them into his awaiting travel pack.

As soon as the last loaf was placed in his new pack, he tied it shut in a fraction of a second, and threw himself into the crowd. Away from the short combatant.

He only made it a few feet when he felt a yank on his shoulder. Dante barely managed to hold in his curse, the combatant’s strength was far stronger than he had expected and likely slightly higher than his own. “Where are you going, friend?” He could just barely hear the words over the loud crowd.

Dante allowed himself to be yanked, giving no indication of his own strength, and facing the man with an oblivious expression. “Can I help you?”

The combatant maintained an iron grip on his left shoulder and began to lead him through the crowd and away from the deafening crowd. “No, no. It’s what I can do for you. You seem to be new in Grimspeak, maybe I could show you around?”

Although the man said the words nonchalantly, he was patting Dante down for a weapon as he said it. Dropping his guard noticeably when he didn’t find one. Still, it didn’t stop him from sticking a dagger against Dante’s side.

That gave him pause. If the combatant knew who he was, he should have known about his ability to make weapons… and even if he didn’t know, he shouldn’t have dismissed the possibility that he was a mage Classification, no matter how rare they were.

But it raised the question; why was he singled out? It was possible that he just looked like an easy mark, but that was far too unlikely.

Regardless, allowing the man to do what he wanted with him was a poor choice, and his misgivings about killing a possibly innocent person were shattered as the grip on his shoulder tightened and forced him to turn down a different street.

Keeping it discreet, Dante created a small dagger. He held it low to his side and out of sight as he began to pump world essence into it. He was going to kill the combatant, but decided it would be best to try and get answers first. “How did you know who I was?”

The combatant’s grip tightened, and he cracked a smile that was almost a sneer. “Do you really think you can hide with a thousand-gold bounty on your head?”

A thousand-gold bounty…?

He wasn’t sure why the sum surprised him so much. A thousand gold coins were nothing to the Calmans, but at the same time, it seemed like far too much. His face would be memorized by every combatant in the noble territory. “When was the bounty posted?” There was no way that it had been up when he entered Grimspeak yesterday, the guards would have recognized him.

The combatant's smile was no longer almost a sneer. “Just posted this morning. My luck couldn’t get much better.”

Dante nodded, then snapped his hand out to stop the combatant’s dagger while simultaneously ramming his dagger through the man’s gut and twisting it. “I wholeheartedly agree.” He immediately destroyed the blade and continued to walk forward through the crowd as if nothing had happened. Making it several feet away before the screams behind him pierced the air.